On August 30, 2008. a first-year woman student at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, left the dormitory room of a male student and used an emergency telephone to call university police to report that she had been raped. The male student claimed that the sex was consensual. The university did not report the incident to the county district attorney’s office and no criminal charges were ever filed in the case.
But three weeks later, the university’s internal disciplinary proceedings were held. According to the male student, after a five-hour hearing he was given the choice of a one semester suspension or to leave the school for one year and then reapply for admission.
Now the male student is pursuing a $3 million federal lawsuit against the university. He claims he was denied due process and that the accusations and his subsequent exit from the university caused damage to his reputation.